Psoralen Treatment of Adenovirus Particles Eliminates Virus Replication and Transcription While Maintaining the Endosomolytic Activity of the Virus Capsid

Adenovirus entry into its host cell transiently permeabilizes the cell allowing the coentry of reagents such as DNA. We compare here adenovirus inactivation with β-propiolactone and several psoralen derivatives, seeking reagents that disrupt the viral genome without impairing the viral entry functions. No virus replication can be detected after 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) modification. Viral transcription is not detectable by Northern analysis, and reverse transcriptase/PCR analysis demonstrates at least a 1000-fold decrease in viral transcription after 8-MOP treatment. Using [3H]8-MOP, the psoralen is found to enter the virus capsid and react throughout the viral genome, with approximately one psoralen modification per 100 bp of viral DNA. This inactivated adenovirus allows us to deliver DNA to target cells without interference from adenovirus gene expression or replication. Furthermore, we can now study the host cell response to adenovirus entry without the complications of adenovirus gene expression

The GABBR1 locus and the G1465A variant is not associated with temporal lobe epilepsy preceded by febrile seizures

BACKGROUND: Polymorphism G1465A in the GABBR1 gene has been suggested as a risk factor for non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE); however, this genetic association study has not been independently replicated. We attempted to replicate this study in our cohort of patients with TLE. Furthermore, we also analyzed the coding sequence of this gene and searched for disease-causing mutations. METHODS: We included 120 unrelated individuals with TLE that was preceded by febrile seizures (FS) who did not have any evidence of structural lesions suggesting secondary epilepsy. 66 individuals had positive family history of TLE epilepsy and 54 were sporadic. Each patient was genotyped for the presence of G1465A polymorphism. All exons of the GABBR1 gene were screened by single strand confirmation polymorphism method. Genotypes were compared with two independent matched control groups. RESULTS: We detected two A alleles of the G1465A polymorphism in one homozygous control subject (0.87% of all alleles) and one A allele in a patient with TLE (0.45%, not significant). Other detected polymorphisms in coding regions had similar frequencies in epilepsy patients and control groups. No disease causing mutations in the GABBR1 gene were detected in patients with sporadic or familial TLE. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that TLE preceded by FS is not associated with the polymorphisms or mutations in the GABBR1 gene, including the G1465A polymorphism. The proportion of TLE patients with FS in the original study, reporting this positive association, did not differ between allele A negative and positive cases. Thus, our failure to reproduce this result is likely applicable to all non-lesional TLE epilepsies

Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries. For information about the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, please visit the following website: [www.WCPCCS2023.org]. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the activities related to global health and advocacy that will occur at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. Acknowledging the need for urgent change, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring a common voice to the global community and issue the Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action on Addressing the Global Burden of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases. A copy of this Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is provided in the Appendix of this manuscript. This Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is an initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the global burden, promoting the development of sustainable care systems, and improving access to high quality and equitable healthcare for children with heart disease as well as adults with congenital heart disease worldwide

Management of a large pseudo-aneurysm secondary to balloon angioplasty for aortic coarctation

Balloon dilation of native aortic coarctation has been employed safely and effectively in selected patients and with good results during follow-up. However, pseudo-aneurysm formation at the site of dilatation occurs in about 2%-8% of patients. Although the majority of these aneurysms remain stable, they occasionally may increase in size during follow-up, raising concerns in regard to potential rupture, massive bleeding, and death. We report a case of aneurysm formation after balloon dilation of native coarctation of the aorta, treated successfully with the interposition of a tube graft

Remodelling of the superior caval vein after angioplasty in an infant with superior caval vein syndrome

An 8-month old girl was presented with superior caval vein syndrome early after cardiac surgery. Angiography showed severe stenosis of the superior caval vein with 50 mmHg pressure gradient. Following balloon angioplasty, the pressure gradient was reduced to 7 mmHg with some residual stenosis of the superior caval vein. When the patient was reevaluated 5 months after the procedure, angiography revealed a normal diameter of the superior caval vein without a pressure gradient

Study of moment-based MPC formulations and their connection to classical control

Model predictive control (MPC) is a well-established modern control technology used in diverse applications to provide (sub)optimal operating conditions while incorporating safety and performance constraints. In MPC, the control action at the current time instant is obtained by solving a finite horizon optimal control problem according to the forecasts of the future process behavior. Hence the quality/validity of predictions generated from process models determine the performance of these controllers ([1]). Although models based on first principles are expected to provide better predictions for a wider range of operating conditions ([2]), the model predictions should also incorporate the effects of uncertain deviations to overcome the adverse effects. To this end, robust model predictive control techniques are developed in order to reduce the effect of uncertainty ([3,4]) in dynamical processes

Safety analysis for a class of graph constrained scheduling problems

We consider a class of scheduling problems, common in manufacturing industries that consist of several interconnected subprocesses. We model the scheduling constraints of each subprocess and of the overall system using labeled directed graphs, forming the admissible set of schedules. Furthermore, we consider polytopic constraints on the state space. We approach the scheduling problem as a safety analysis problem utilizing reachability mappings, system and constraint structure. Consequently, we construct the safe schedules that guarantee constraint satisfaction at all times. The proposed framework is illustrated in a case study that concerns a simplified separation process

Moment based model predictive control for systems with additive uncertainty

In this paper, we present a model predictive control (MPC) strategy based on the moments of the state variables and the cost functional. The statistical properties of the state predictions are calculated through the open loop iteration of dynamics and used in the formulation of MPC cost function. We show that the moment based formulation yields predictive control problems which are computationally simpler to solve compared to the existing robust MPC formulations, while providing statistical robustness properties. We apply the proposed MPC technique to a simple simulation example to demonstrate its effectiveness.</p

Unusual presentation of myocardial ischemia after arterial switch operation

Ischemic changes and acute or subacute cardiac failure after arterial switch operation generally result!; from imperfect transfer of coronary arteries to the neoaorta. Peroperative and early postoperative myocardial ischemia is the main cause of death in these patients. We present an unusual cause of myocardial ischemia. and cardiac failure after arterial switch: a congenital coronary artery fistula between the circumflex artery and the right ventricle. The symptoms imitate coronary translocation failure. In differential diagnosis of the coronary perfusion problems encountered after the arterial switch operation, coronary artery fistula should not be forgotten, although it is rare. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved